Red Faction II
Red Faction II is a sequel to the game Red Faction and takes place on Earth as opposed to the Mars of the first. Red Faction II was developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ on October 16, 2002 for PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. Red Faction II does not support network gaming, but provides some multiplayer-style games with 'bots'. It takes place on Earth, telling the story of a group of elite soldiers, including the main character, Alias. These soldiers were physically enhanced by a secret technology originally developed on Mars. Lance Henriksen provides the voice of the squad leader, Molov, and Jason Statham voices the vehicle expert, Shrike. Changes from Red Faction includes the removal of features such as interconnected levels, the ability to move bodies, and weapon groupings, giving it a more arcade feel. Also the GeoMod technology is of limited use in Earth's cities of Red Faction II compared to Martian tunnels of Red Faction. Additions include the use of dual weapons, an increased frame rate, and a substantially improved multiplayer. Red Faction II also creates a larger emphasis on explosive weaponry. Storyline The game, much like its predecessor, has basis in the real-life Red Army Faction; the storytelling themes that were prevalent in Red Faction are more pronounced in this sequel. In the year 2163, 5 years after the events of Red Faction, on Mars, the nanotechnology developed by Capek has been claimed by the Earth Defense Force (EDF). With this advanced level of military technology, the EDF commences a reorganization of the Ultor Corporation with a particular focus on enhanced supersoldiers and suitable weaponry. However, the research that was done by Capek in his laboratories (see Red Faction I) has been consequently stolen by other militant groups and assorted criminal terrorist organizations. This has gone on for years; the research has changed hands in the criminal underworld many times. The player is introduced into the role of an explosives expert (codenamed "Alias"), as he embarks on a Special Operations mission to claim the research data for Republic of the Commonwealth. Eventually, the research was successfully claimed by the elite forces of Victor Sopot, Chancellor of the dystopic military state known only as The Commonwealth. Sopot uses the nanotechnology to enhance his already formidable military forces, and successfully creates the first supersoldiers with the research data. Quickly fearing the potential of his new nanotech supersoldiers, he orders them all to be hunted down and executed at once and replaced with far less intelligent, mutated horrors known as "The Processed". The handful of nanotech supersoldiers that have survived and escaped Sopot's order have banded together to form "the Squad". The Squad consists of: * Molov, team leader and tactician * Shrike, chief transportation expert and technician * Repta, heavy weapons specialist and commando * Quill, accomplished sniper and reinforcement commando * Tangier, covert specialist and saboteur * Alias (the player), explosives engineer and team sapper Collectively betrayed by their leader, the Squad flees underground and ally themselves with the Red Faction as mercenaries. The Red Faction, at this point in the story, is a more organized resistance movement that is strongly opposed to the rule of Sopot and the skewed political tenets of The Commonwealth. The Squad eventually pursue Sopot and neutralize all opposition in their way as the Red Faction also takes the conflict to the streets, in a joint uprising against the rule of The Commonwealth. During the course of the initial stages of the game, the Red Faction and the Squad mutually support each other as they overcome shared objectives which include minimizing civilian casualties and sabotaging propaganda installations. The joint uprising culminates in successfully trapping Sopot in his missile silo and executing him with the exhaust flames of an ICBM he had planned to fire in another political move to undermine the goals of (or annihilate) the Red Faction. Back at the Red Faction headquarters, a profound turn of events occurs. Alias returns to the makeshift base of operations, only to discover that all of the Red Faction resistance members present have been brutally slaughtered. Molov remarks that with Sopot dead, and with the nanotech research in Molov's possession, the Commonwealth's military forces have voluntarily pledged allegiance to Molov. He declares Alias and Tangier to be enemies of the state for supporting the Red Faction. Also present is the leader of the Red Faction forces on Earth, a civilian named Echo, who explains to all of the Squad's members that the Red Faction had no intention of misusing the Squad's participation and alliance in the joint uprising. Echo tries to explain that the Red Faction's ultimate goal is to bring about peace. Molov, enraged, retorts that a declaration of peace would defeat the purpose of their existence as soldiers. As Molov is about to fire his weapon he is held hostage by a cloaked Tangier, who buys the three characters enough time to make an escape with their lives. The three split up, and agree to meet in a more discrete location to plan a way to stop Molov and his army of nanotech supersoldiers. The remaining members of the Squad, die-hard soldiers to the core, give chase with military orders to hunt down and execute the three fugitives. Shortly after fleeing to safety, Alias (now working alone) lends impromptu aid to surviving Red Faction members who are defending themselves from the enemy. While Tangier embarks on a solo Black Ops mission to uncover more of Molov's plot, Alias and Echo meet up in a secret location to discuss an alternate strategy to stop Molov's current course of action. At that moment, Echo is brutally gunned down by a rail charge; Quill and her specialized railgun have openly challenged Alias to a duel. Alias tracks down the trajectory of the lethal gunfire to an abandoned cathedral, where Quill and her detachment of troops and Processed nanotech mutants do battle with Alias. Alias successfully out-guns the Squad's sniper, and Quill tumbles through the rosette window to fall to her demise. Alias claims her weapon as a grim trophy of sorts. Tangier radios Alias soon afterward, and the two agree to shut down Molov's commandeered Nanotech Laboratory, located within the colossal Statue of Sopot. Upon a safe arrival, the two operatives split up for maximum effect. Repta makes his appearance, distracting Alias with both distracting gunfire and deploying Processed mutants and unleashing Molov's newest creation: a more refined Processed mutant that is stronger and more resilient than the initial Processed. Alias continues pursuit of Repta into the Industrial Processor, located within the base of Sopot's Statue. The area is littered with a confusing network of catwalks, where Repta lurks with the high ground advantage and a anti-personnel grenade launcher. Eventually, Alias triumphs and shoots Repta off one of the catwalks, sending Repta plummeting into the irradiated processing ground below. Alias claims Repta's abandoned weapon as he continues his climb up the base of Sopot's Statue and destroys the Nanotech Laboratory's three power generators. The collateral damage from Alias's explosives weakens the foundation, and renders the statue's infrastructure unstable. Alias eventually encounters Repta again, who has been driven into a nearly homicidal rage from surviving the previous encounter. The nanotechnology within Repta has been further enhanced, destabilizing Repta while augmenting his capacity for combat; Repta has been processed into the ultimate killing machine, and summons Molov's Nanotech Elite as reinforcements. In addition, Repta is engulfed in an energy field that disrupts nearby present nanotechnology, subjecting the player to reversed player controls at inopportune moments during the fight. As Alias triumphs once again, the energy field within Repta reaches critical mass and Repta violently explodes. Alias and Tangier meet up once again and pursue Molov, who is scaling the heights of Sopot's Statue. During the pursuit, Molov's most powerful subordinates launch a counterattack in order to distract and slow down the two operatives. Molov has taken the Nanotech Cell – the culmination of Capek's nanotechnology research (see Red Faction) – and awaits for extraction from Shrike. In an ironic turn of events, Shrike betrays his commanding officer, declaring that a grievous error in judgment has been made. Tangier manages to reclaim the Nanotech Cell from Molov's possession and uses a grenade to cover her escape as she dives headfirst off the observation deck of Sopot's Statue. Molov, desperate to eliminate his enemies and traitors, climbs aboard a nearby battle armor and launches a frenzied assault against Alias and the player's entire collected arsenal. Shrike, in his own close air support craft, patrols the area around them and maintains vigil. Using the destructible environment to his ultimate advantage, Alias manages to evade Molov's fire and launch a counterattack that not only kills Molov once and for all, but also begins to destroy the battleground located within the statue. As the statue crumbles under its own weight, Shrike swoops in to extract his teammate in the nick of time. From this point, the story ends in one of four possible ways, depending on the player's Heroics score as illustrated in the player's profile in the Main Menu: * According to the best ending, "I Remember Sopot", Alias is immediately offered and accepts the position of military advisor to the Red Faction government, and when he finally retired many years later, his memoirs stayed on the bestseller list for 17 weeks, and were eventually made into a video game. Tangier travels to Mars and becomes executive Vice President of security to the reorganized Ultor mining company, and Shrike marries into a family of circus performers and makes his fortune as the star attraction at a theme park built on the remains of Sopot Island. * According to the second best ending, "Glory Days", Alias is decorated for acts of heroism and eventually is offered and accepts a position as the military advisor to the new Red Faction Government, Tangier is rescued and elected Chancellor of the Commonwealth, and Shrike becomes a pilot for the reformed civilian air fleet. * According the second bad ending, "On the Road Again", Alias is convicted of manslaughter and is scheduled to be executed, Tangier is found by a Garbage Barge, she falls in love with the captain, and lives happily ever after with her husband, two children, four dogs and three cats, and Shrike is kicked out of the Commonwealth and eventually shot down hauling bootlegged video games from third world countries. * According to the worst ending, "Judgement Day", Alias is branded a mutant and a danger to the commonwealth and disappears without a trace in a daring escape moments before being executed, Tangier survives her fall but is never found, and Shrike, due to odd appearance and unstable mentality, is now homeless and unemployed. In order to achieve this ending, the only way seems to be to kill every ally and civilian you meet and achieve no bonus objectives. Missions Foreign Lands Public Information Building Shrike's Wild Ride Underground Tank on the Town The Citadel Hangin' in the Hood Dancin' with the Dead A River runs to it Inside the Nano Base In Sopot's deadly Embrace Multiplayer Red Faction II provides a far deeper multiplayer mode than its predecessor. Previously, players were not allowed to organize teams or access special modes of play. Red Faction II features Deathmatch, Bagman, Arena (all available with either individual or team play), Capture the Flag, and "Regime" (an unlockable mode equivalent to Bagman), all played across a large selection of levels. Every game mode except Capture the Flag has the same stage set; Capture the Flag has another whole set of levels dedicated to it. The only stage that appears in both sets is Warlords. Players can also create their own bots. Bots, like the human players, are able to keep statistics pertaining to gameplay. Bots obtain more statistic points as they fight matches in Multiplayer, which allows you to upgrade their abilities as they are used. These statistics include Health, Damage, Agility, and Accuracy. There are also two other stats pertaining to their gameplay: Camping Tendency and Aggressiveness. Both of these use bars: the more you fill in the bars, the more they tend to camp and wait or show no mercy on targets. Online multiplayer was not supported on any platform, and the PC version only supports a "Bot Match" multiplayer feature despite the first game having online play support. Incompatibility issues On PCs running Windows Vista 64-bit with 4GB or more of RAM, Red Faction II is known to yield this error message: "At least 8MB of available VRAM is required to run Red Faction II" when launching. A third party patch is available to address this issue. Cast of characters :Alias- Christian Campbell :Molov- Lance Henriksen :Shrike- Jason Statham :Tangier- Cricket Leigh :Quill- Julie Claire :Repta- Gary Sturgis :Sopot- Sherman Howard :Echo- David A. Thomas Additional voice actors include: :Eileen Galindo :Greg Ellis :Steve Staley :Carole Ruggier :Scott MacDonald :Jerry DeCapua :Vanessa Marshall :Paul Goodman :Jason Harris :Joe Whyte :James Horan :Haydn Cockayne